Abbott Summons John Scott Back into Action
as Interim AG in Paxton Impeachment Wake
Proclamation on John Scott
Capitol Inside
May 31, 2023
Governor Greg Abbott turned to an old college friend for the second time in the past 18 months when he appointed John Scott on Wednesday as the state's top lawyer until Attorney General Ken Paxton's fate is determined in the Texas Senate at some point this summer after his impeachment by the House last weekend.
Scott answered the latest call from the governor just five months after stepping down as the Texas secretary of state - a post to which Abbott appointed him in the fall of 2021 when he'd been under intense pressure from Donald Trump and the conservative base in a push for a forensic election audit of the election here the year before.
Despite a predictable amount of voting violations in selective locations that the state audited, the SOS found under Scott's stewardship that the 2020 election in Texas wasn't tainted by massive voter fraud like the former president alleged at the time. Scott showed no sign of being intimidated by criticism and threats - and he even called out activists who were spreading lies about the legitimacy of Democratic President Joe Biden's election that year and the security of the voting in the Lone Star State and beyond.
“John Scott has the background and experience needed to step in as a short-term interim Attorney General during the time the Attorney General has been suspended from duty,” Abbott said in a statement. Abbott noted that Scott's vast resume includes a stint as a deputy attorney general when the current governor was the AG before a promotion to governor in 2014.
"His decades of experience and expertise in litigation will help guide him while serving as the state’s top law enforcement officer," Abbott said. "I appoint John Scott for this role based on the Texas Constitution to serve for a temporary period during the Texas Senate’s resolution of the impeachment proceedings.”
Scott is a Fort Worth product who's lived there when he hasn't been on assignment for the governor in Austin. The interim AG and Abbott have been close since they attended the University of Texas at Austin together as undergraduate students. Scott served as secretary of state for 14 months before he left office on the final day of December in a move that cleared the way for Abbott to name former Texas Senate Republican Jane Nelson as the state's chief elections official.
more to come ...
more to come ... |
